Of books, dogs & medical shows

Today I bought yet another another discarded 80s book to whom I gave the kiss of death by checking out of the library earlier this year.My "save all the 80s books!" campaign must be stopped. This one isn't even endangered! Maybe the original jacket illustration was worth saving, but it's an award-winning book from a popular author, Norma Fox Mazer. After the Rain was in no danger of disappearing, Self, and the system still has a newer paperback. This copy has several soiled pages to boot; it is in reasonable discard and decidedly not to-own shape.

Ah well. I also acquired a pair of donated paperbacks in pretty nice shape, Farley Mowat's Lost in the Barrens (1988 printing) and Hal Borland's When the Legends Die (1979 printing), which looked like it might be an interesting read.

I also have to decide whether I want to pay $2.50 for a Reader's Digest copy of The Scarlet Letter. On the one hand, it's a hardcover with a red ribbon bookmark, and has illustrations, with colored endpages. On the other hand, it says "Reader's Digest" in really ugly print on the spine, like it's trying to make itself look cheap and accessible to the masses.

At this point I should probably consider creating a separate, fancy, grown-up Blogspot blog just to discuss all my books and book-buying purchases so I could hook up with the rest of the old-book-appreciatin' world. The only thing stopping me is my incessant need to cross-post/the fact that I would be extremely sad if all my book talk was not contained alongside my beloved TV talk. ----------------Then Kym and I had one of our rare POSITIVE encounters with another dog!A big Golden Retriever came trotting unaccompanied out of its front yard. Usually that equals panic, but then I realized it was a pretty old dog, and since it was also bigger than Kym and a placid breed, there was a much lower chance she'd try to attack it if I let them meet. To my very great joy, although I kept a taut hold on Kym's leash -- careful not to touch the other dog myself (jealousy), constantly watching her mouth for signs of snapping, and keeping up a continuous stream of stern "Be nice" warnings and soothing "Good girl" reassurances -- they merely went around and around in circles, sniffing each other. No biting! No barking! In a couple of minutes the owner came out and the dog ran off, and I was so proud of Kym's good behavior I...had to blog about it.----------------In TV progress news, I think it's about time I caught up to House. Unfortunately, I made the foolish mistake of watching #3 after I'd missed #2, which was the decidedly important transition episode between "prison" and "3/4 of the way to normal." It's not my fault! Kym was being insistently needy and flopped down with her head in my lap right after Terra Nova, making it impossible for me to flee the scene.

Combined thoughts:

* Charlyne Yi's character is THE WORST. I mean, not worse than Kutner, or Thirteen, or Taub...actually, yeah, worse than Taub and just barely better than the other two. So far, the only acceptable thing I have seen about her is that her father is Dr. Wen from Scrubs, which I find amusing in all kinds of ways. As much as I theoretically like House's team being composed of women, she's not so much a woman as a sort of androgynous droid. Who triggers this extremely violent impulse in my brain. Clearly, if you want to have a smart but poorly socialized woman on the team, she's got to have hair at least as fabulous (long) as Amber Tamblyn's. I based most of this impression on her nothing-short-of-FREAKISH refusal to accept favors or even the smallest of niceties in 8x03, but it seems accurate.

* By contrast, Dr. Adams thoroughly and completely makes up for that. It's like watching some strange mashup of The Beautiful Life/Ugly Betty. I already loved her, but watching her turn doing nice things into a one-sided competition she was determined to win, with the fun side effect of tormenting Ugly Park and driving her crazy, made me love her that much more.

* It still seems a little convenient and that House got out of jail that fast, and I am not clear on the specifics of how he was able to come back to work just like that, but I guess that's how Dean Foreman rolls. Minimal explanation is fine by me if it also results in minimal screentime for him. Should I have made a bigger deal about him becoming the Dean of Medicine? It felt like a huge question when we were wondering over the summer, but not unlike The Office, once the dust had settled it just made sense.

* Wilson was wonderful in 8x02, with the patient and otherwise (specifically with the patients, I kept typing comments to the effect of "HIS FACE" and then stupidly failing to do anything that would result in a screencap). I also really enjoy whenever House feels desperate enough to use some words conveying Real Friendship Feelings. Nothing like the ending, though. A punch in the face has never seemed so sweet. Got very handclaspy as Wilson, post-Punch Of Getting Over it, pleasantly invited himself over for a steak dinner of friendship-restoring. ♥

* I am not as much in mourning for Cuddy as I would have thought. There are so many shiny new things to pay attention to, I feel sort of like a dog whose best dog friend was taken to the vet and never came back. It essentially happened off screen, so it's almost like not knowing what happened. A little sad at first, but then I accept that she was here one day and then she wasn't. Unlike, say, CSI: NY where I am in constant heart pain more than a year later.

* FYI, I am in mourning for House's prison hair.

* And the credits (sure, they were like 90% inaccurate in a given season, but what about the music??)

* NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW THIRTEEN IS GONE BASICALLY FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRR! That was super exciting! It was also super unnecessary to see any part of her personal life, I thought; there was absolutely no reason we needed to be introduced to whatever poor sucker has to put up with her now unless that person plans to come back and die. She deserves no closure, no special sendoff. But at least it is over and done with. I don't understand the fools who keep hiring for movies, as she actively drives me away from things even more effectively than Megan Fox, but as long as they want her more than FOX-the-network does, have at it!

* So, how are we dealing with the problem of how it's been a good year in show time to five months in real time? Are we saying last season was on super-slow/stretched-out time, making House & Cuddy's relationship even briefer than it already was, or are we working somewhere in 2012 now? And if the latter, are we going with super-slow/stretched-out time from here on out? I need a date stamp here soon. I fell behind on spoilers, so if this was addressed in an interview, please clue me in.

(also, does that mean Taub now has two babies out in the world already? Surprisingly looking forward to being caught up on that soap opera)

* Dear Wentworth Miller: please stay off my shows. That is all.~~~~~~~~~And what the hell -- I'm here, it's thematically appropriate, let's make time for the 2 most recent eps of Private Practice.

* Rocking and sobbing in a corner over Violet's hair. Stabs me in the heart every time I see it. Looks like some sort of hideous granny's wig dug out of a box in the attic. My favorite thing about Amy Brenneman, always, has been the way she's kept long locks for years and years, even past the age at which I will grudgingly allow women to look equally OK with shorter hair, and looked good doing it. I don't understand. The articles I'm trying to look up fir explanation confuse me; was it her choice or the writers'? Either way, the show could have at least had her hair catch on fire or some similar necessity instead of going with the horrible, HORRIBLE idea that she decided to just chop it all off one day to make a change. Trauma. Still not fuly recovered. May never be.

* Eye-scarring sex scenes, albeit mostly successfully avoided, did not help. Their mutual bedtime confessions of fear at the end of ep. 3, particularly him worrying he wouldn't be able to finish raising Lucas, looked nice on paper but fell flat in practice. Subesequent episode was a little more interesting -- I liked her breaking down in front of Sheldon after getting yet another brush-off -- but I'm still holding them at arm's length, puzzled and not quite sure what to do with them yet.

* I would like to just remain in the world where Violet issues verbal friend requests to Addison, who awkwardly accepts and even more awkwardly attempts to fill the role, since they have no one else.

* Jake Reilly: so notirreparably damaged. Enjoying everything he says. By contrast, if Sam could maybe just stop talking and serve no function other than a basketball court rival with Jake, I would be happy.

* People who should keep talking: Addison and her therapist. This is GREAT. So much more interesting than Meredith Grey's tired and trite voiceovers.

* Addison's Therapy Quotes of Note:Who'd want to watch the man you love spend the rest of his life with another woman? Honestly, I've been there, and it is too cruel.(heart: *breaks*)

I'm starting to think that love might mean wanting the other person to be happy, even if that means they can't stay with you.Aha! I have just found my self-pitying go-to line to be used for when I am inevitably dumped in the extremely unlikely event I ever date. Honestly, I want someone to dress this up in fancy Photoshop ways and make it a Tumblr graphic.

* Uterus transplant: I don't quite know what to say to that. Yay?

* Amnesiac Wife: Oh, this is just a no-win situation. He's right, it would be easier if she'd just died in the accident. This is horrible! She literally has the memory of a goldfish -- I can't even imagine how you would live with that, especially since I'd think she'd need round the clock supervision. I honestly don't know which side to take, which is why I've never been happier to leave a storyline in the dust and not have to deal with it anymore. For once, it is just a horrible nightmare, and you're allowed to wake up!

* Storyline quote of note:Amelia: Addie, I love you, but you're not really going to preach about the sanctity of marriage, are you?Addison: Rude.(so rude. Amelia, I love you, but I'm pretty sure my memory -- selective though it can be -- recalls Addison trying to fix that mistake)

* You know what my very least favorite trope in the world is? "Surprise, you have a kid!" It is THE WORST. Unless the mother is conveniently dead or unfit and the kid is very small, I hate the unnecessary disruption to the established ship and the life-altering magnitude of the kid being there, permanently forcing strangers into the lives of characters we know and love.

That said, it occurred to me after reading a number of positive comments on blogs that it might not be the actual worst thing in the world this time. For starters, there's no ship to destruct. I actively want the damn thing wrecked, even though it can't be. Second, this way Cooper gets to be a dad and I don't necessarily have to see the Wicked Witch of the South procreate. Third, the kid is old enough that Cooper gets to be an Instant Dad and not have to deal with a baby. Because as much as I believe in guys being hotter in the presence of babies, I'm just not sure Cooper has the ability to be anything beyond "goofy cute" like the golden retriever he is.

Also there was this, and this is what I like to hear:Cooper: Yeah, you married an idiot. I married a miserable bitch.Me: STALK OFF LIKE A BOSS, COOPER. Charlotte's tears feed my soul.

* So far, I have found Mason distinctly tolerable. Still not clear why they decided to go in this direction, but I tentatively approve.~~~~~~~~~P.S. Dear Vikings: I do not want an extra sales tax to fund your lame-ass stadium! If you're not happy with your current facility and you can't pay for a change your own damn selves, feel free to let the door hit you on the way out. My emotional attachment to you is minimal at best, and nothing about you says "this is a worthy way to spend taxpayer money." And this, mind, is coming from somebody who's lived here all her life and hates any kind of change with every fiber of her being.

P.S. #2: I did not get to "Once Upon a Time." *slams desk angrily* Odds are looking depressingly good on it getting kicked to Christmas or summer, since I've still got about 10 episode of other shows backed up and a fresh week starts in mere hours. What I really hate is that just when I get into a solid writing groove, I'll realize I've run out of episodes (at least, the easy ones that won't end up being 1000 words + pictures) and need to watch more before I can keep going, only it's near impossible to relax myself enough to do that, so I end up doing something else for hours until I just fall asleep.